Victims of Tilly Foster mine disaster memorialized 130 years later

BREWSTER- November 29, 1895 was one of the darkest days in Putnam County history when tragedy struck outside the Village of Brewster.

The Tilly Foster Mine Disaster claimed the lives of a group of hard-working immigrant miners, many of them Italian, who came to this country in search of opportunity but instead met an untimely death under difficult and dangerous working conditions.

At the time, the Tilly Foster Mine was recognized as the deepest open pit mine in the world, reaching nearly 600 feet. The Italian miners who toiled there endured harsh conditions and, in death, were denied the dignity they deserved. Instead of being remembered by name, they were identified only by numbers assigned by their employers.

The disaster made worldwide headlines, yet the men themselves were never gi